Story+1984-10-22+Oakland,+CA

´´This is uh...this is a song about....I guess, family and blood ties....and duty....and what happens when, uh....when those things collide....”
 * 22.10.84 Oakland, CA, intro to ´Highway Patrolman´**

´´This song, this is, uh....it´s kind of about the fleetingness of love....is there anybody out there with a broken heart tonight ?....this song is about, you know, how when you first meet somebody...and you go out with ´em, like everything they do is perfect, you tell ´em how beautiful they look every night and.....everything they say is so brilliant.... you know, and uh....I remember before I used to, I´d meet a new girl and before I´d go over, I´d stand in front of the mirror and fix my hair so it looked just right and....and I´d always be worried, like, that my nose was too big or something....I´d say ´Honey, is my nose too big ?´ and she´d say ´Oh, sweetie, it´s perfect just the way it is´...you know, it´s like if you´re going out, ´Do you wanna go out or do you wanna stay home tonight ?, ´Oh, honey, I don´t care just as long as I´m with you´....you know, and every place you go, you can´t keep your hands off ´em, you´re touching ´em all the time and you wanna make love to ´em all the time....´Oh, honey, not again´....but then if you come back, you know, if you come back about six months later sometimes, it´s like, uh ....´Ain´t I gonna get a goodnight kiss ?´....it´s like ´I would if I could get around that thing that´s on the front of your face´....what happens ? why ? why does that happen ? ....”
 * 22.10.84 Oakland, CA, intro to ´I´m Going Down´**

´´(after the singalong) That´s good, get these people, get these people up here, we´ll go down there....gonna switch around now....oh, this is a song....about the passing of time....about how the clock keeps on ticking, about how you can´t mess with Father Time....´cause he´ll get you in the end....now some of us....some of us wear our old times better than others.... now....the Big Man....has maintained his youthful beauty....are you ready, Big Man ?....”
 * 22.10.84 Oakland, CA, intro to ´Glory Days´**

´´Oh,thanks....gimme some lights, yeah....oh, this is a....I wrote this song, uh....I guess it was 1977 and uh....I guess it was something where I...it´s kind of about believing that....that, uh, that the cities that we live in and the states that we live in can be a little better place than they are if everybody....we kind of dig in and take some of the responsobility for, for where we live....and uh, tonight we got....when you go out during intermission, there´s gonna be some people from the Berkeley Emergency Food Project....and uh, what their job is, what their business is is that they feed people, people who been, uh....who´ve been cut down and kind of dropped, dropped through the bottom of the....injustices in our social system..... people that need a little, they need a little helping hand....so, uh, I don´t know if anybody was here last night (cheers) but uh....I was talking to some of the ladies who work over there and they said that there was a lot of, lot of calls from the people that were down at the show last night and I want youse to know that I appreciate it....and uh....right now they´re working on trying to re-open a shelter....a shelter for people for when the winter weather sets in a little bit....and they´re basically just trying to make this place a little more decent, decent place to live....so....during the intermission if you get out there, their phonenumbers are out there and they´ll be out there, they can use any support which you can give, thank you very much....”
 * 22.10.84 Oakland, CA, intro to ´The Promised Land´**

´´This is uh....I guess back around ´70....´76, I read a book called ´Born on the Fourth of July´ ....by a guy named Ron Kovic....and uh, it kind of first got me interested in problems of the Vietnam Veterans had coming home and uh....so this, Ronnie, this is for you....”
 * 22.10.84 Oakland, CA, intro to ´Shut Out the Light´**

´´Thanks....it´s hard to....figure out sometimes what....what pulls people apart....”
 * 22.10.84 Oakland, CA, intro to ´Stolen Car´**

´´Now, take it easy a minute here, boys....now, this song is about the conflict....between worldly things and spiritual health....between desires of the flesh....and spiritual ecstasy .... it´s about temptation....now, who hasn´t been tempted and who hasn´t succumbed at some time ?...you always hear the same old story : ´The devil made me do it´, ´It looked so good, I had to have it´....when did all this begin ?....well, it began in the beginning....in a place called the Garden of Eden....now, the Garden of Eden was originally believed to have been located in Mesopotamia....or Southern Babylonia....but the latest theological studies have found that its actual location was ten miles south of Jersey City off the New Jersey Turnpike....now, that´s why they call it the Garden State.....in the Garden of Eden, understand, you had none of the accoutrements of modern living....you had no bed, there wasn´t no houses, there wasn´t no, you couldn’t go out on to the highway and get a hamburger if you wanted one .... didn´t have no mama and no papa....there was no sin ....there was no sex.....man lived in a state of innocence....now, when it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I live in.... (?) I decided I had to, I had to understand the mysteries, I had to understand where the root of this problem was so I took a spiritual journey....to the location of the Garden of Eden, it´s now occupied by Happy Dan´s Celebrity Used Car Lot....I walked in, the man said ´Son, you need a yellow convertible, it´s a four-door DeVille, it´s got a Continental spare and wide chrome wheels, need a tapedeck, automatic heat, with a full fold-out bed in your backseat, a television and a phone so you can speak to your baby when you’re driving all alone’...I said ‘Thank you, Sir, but what I really wanna know about is I wanna know about, I wanna know about the roots of temptation, where did it begin....and, and he said ´Well, son, that´s easy.... you see, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and on the First Day, He separated the light from the darkness and he called the light ´the day´ and he called the darkness ´the night´....on the Second Day, He grew hungry so He created the cheeseburger ....and the Lord sat back and said ´This is good´ ....on the Third Day, He grew hot so He created air-conditioning....and the Lord sat and back and said ´This is good´....on the Fourth Day, He grew bored so He created rock´n´roll.... and the Lord sat back and said ´This is good´, now, on the Fifth Day, unlike my competition, Jimmy Lee Swaggert or Jerry Falwell will tell you, on the Fifth Day....He wanted to take his baby for a drive....and so He created the pink Cadillac....and the Lord sat back and said ´This is wild´....”
 * 22.10.84 Oakland, CA, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´**

´´Ladies and gentlemen....children at all stages....citizens of Oakland....citizens of San Francisco....whoever the hell else is out there.....it is now my privilige to introduce to you the members of the E Street Band....first we´ve got a gentleman, the most educated member of the band, the only member of the band with a full high school diploma....the man turned down a scholarship to Harvard University where he was working on a PhD in unusual sexual practises....to join the 1984 tour with the E Street Band, he gave up higher education in order to rock the entire nation....let´s hear it for the complicated, the dedicated, the educated, the sexually liberated, the heterosexual intellectual, ´Professor´ Roy Bittan on the piano....the brains of the whole operation....next, we´ve got a lady....an alumni of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes....from Long Branch, New Jersey, the talented, the beautiful Miss Patti Scialfa on vocals....on the bass we´ve got the man that brings you the thunder from down under, he puts that bass in your face, his mother was a Tallent, his father was a Tallent, Mr. Garry W.Tallent on the bass guitar....on the drums, the man that puts the heat in the beat to get your asses out of your seats and moving your feet....´The Mighty´ Max Weinberg on the drums....next we got a gentleman that´s celebrating his 15th anniversary as a member of the E Street Band ....and, and Danny, I´d like to take a minute and just show my appreciation, bring out the gifts....for 15th years of dedication, we got....a portable hairdryer....and two tickets to tonight´s show....on the organ, ´Phantom´ Dan Federici.....next we got a man as sweet as life itself, the newest member of the E Street Band....on the guitar, Mr. Nils Lofgren (Nils does his trampoline stunt)....that´s incredible....now we got a gentleman that needs absolutely no introduction....let me just say that if there was any justice, he´d be the next president of the United States....so gimme a C...L....A....R....E....N....C....E....what´s that spell ?...what´s that spell ?....what´s that spell ?...Clarence ´Big Man´ Clemons on the saxophone....”
 * 22.10.84 Oakland, CA, middle of ´Rosalita´**

´´This is uh....I´d like to take a minute and thank everybody for coming, coming down to the shows that we´ve done here, thank you very much....and uh, I´d like to just remind youse about the Berkeley Emergency Food Project....people that are out there trying to make where you live a more decent and better place to live....so if you get a chance, they could use your support, check ´em out, they´ll be out there on your way out....Berkeley Emergency Food Project, they could use your help....”
 * 22.10.84 Oakland, CA, intro to ´Follow That Dream´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//